gamescom Excites the Masses: 254,000 Visitors in Cologne

The second run of gamescom – the largest trade fair and event highlight for interactive games – successfully came to a close. A total of 254,000 visitors experienced over 200 world, European, and German premieres on five spectacular trade fair days.

Highlights:
• Visitor figures increase in addition to the number of exhibitors and international presence
• 505 exhibitors from 33 countries (2009: 458 from 31 countries)
• 254,000 visitors, 18,900 of whom were trade visitors
• 4,400 media representatives from 49 countries reporting on gamescom
• Over 100,000 additional visitors at the city festival
• Motion control, 3D and world premieres were the big highlights
• Great feedback on the partner country concept
• The GDC Europe developer conference sets new standards as well

At the leading European trade fair in Cologne, 505 exhibitors from 33 countries (2009: 458/31) presented their product innovations, including the hardware enhancements “Kinect” (Microsoft), “Move” (Sony) and the topic of fascinating 3D trends, which provide new momentum for the market of interactive entertainment. The event organiser as well as the conceptual sponsor had correspondingly positive summaries of the trade fair. “After the successful premiere, this year we managed to make gamescom even larger and more international as well as welcome both more exhibitors and more visitors. The amount of positive feedback from the industry, trade and private visitors as well as the media shows us that gamescom 2010 was a completely successful event,” says Oliver P. Kuhrt, Managing Director of Koelnmesse GmbH. “gamescom 2010 surpassed our expectations and provided new momentum for growth. We were especially pleased by the expansion of the international presence: we brought together more international industry representatives in Cologne than ever before, thus anchoring the position of gamescom as the international industry trade fair. We are already looking forward to a successful continuation next year,” adds Olaf Wolters, Managing Director of the conceptual sponsor, the German Federal Association of Interactive Entertainment Software (BIU).

Of the 505 exhibitors, 230 companies alone came from abroad (+15%), thus increasing the internationality of gamescom on the exhibitor side to 45.7% (2009: 43.8%). The team of all major national and international companies in the industry was almost fully represented. For the first time the industry’s leading trade fair presented an official partner country – Canada. The leading international creative location presented itself to international experts in the business area. At the beginning of the games days in Cologne, the developer conference GDC Europe (www.gdc-europe.de) took place from 16-18 August 2010 and hit new record levels with nearly 1,500 participants, 170 speakers and 300 media representatives.

In the trade fair halls at gamescom over 200 premiers could be played and tested this year. An independent jury of experts presented the best products with the gamescom award 2010. In Hall 8 the “gamesCompetence” area provided a broad overview on the issues of media competence and media education. Starting with the industry initiative “Games connect” via the NRW Youth Forum, around 40 organisations, associations and institutions provided children, parents and educators with practical information on dealing with interactive entertainment within the scope of “gamesCompetence”. A highlight of the “gamesCompetence” concept was once again the gamescom conference organised by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the city of Cologne, the BIU and Koelnmesse. The rest of the supporting programme at gamescom offered visitors a great deal of entertainment with everything from retro and art exhibits, sports and adventure activities, a chill-out beach, case modding and a motorcycle course to the European Championships in eSports. gamescom 2010 was again rounded off with the gamescom city festival in downtown Cologne. From Friday through Sunday the presentations by the games industry and top musical acts such as Shout out Louds, Max Herre and 2raumwohnung entertained over 100,000 additional visitors along Cologne’s city centre ring. gamescom in figures: A total of 505 companies from 33 countries (2009: 458/31) took part in gamescom 2010 on a gross floor space of 120,000 square metres. 263 exhibitors and 11 additionally represented companies came from Germany, 224 exhibitors and 7 additionally represented companies from abroad. Over 4,400 media representatives from 49 countries were accredited. Including calculations from the last day of the trade fair, a total of 254,000 visitors (2009: 245,000) visited gamescom 2010 – 18,900 of whom were trade visitors (2009: 17,000).